‘Pork export to S’pore can bring in RM325m annually’
KUCHING: Sarawak can expect to get about RM325 million ( SGD125 million) annually from exporting pork to Singapore from 2020 once the Pig Farming Area ( PFA) at Pasir Puteh in Simunjan is fully utilised.
A State Veterinary Department spokesman said the first consignment last month to the island republic weighed 11,865 kg and was valued at RM151,476 (SGD58,260).
“Initially, we are talking about an annual revenue of some RM1.8 million, but we can expect a revenue of some RM325 million annually once the PFA reached its full potential in the next five years,” he told The Borneo Post yesterday.
He added that by year 2020, 90 per cent of pig farmers would be moving to PFA Pasir Puteh as required by the government.
“It would take some time for them to resettle there as it would involve a lot of investment to start new farms there. This will include acquiring land and constructing the necessary infrastructure before they could move in. This is one of the reasons they have been very reluctant to be resettled there.”
However, the spokesman said one of the incentives for the pig farmers to move to PFA Pasir Puteh was that their farms would be awarded the Good Animal Husbandry Practices ( SALT) certification, which could facilitate their products for export, especially to Singapore.
The spokesman said this when asked to comment on Natural Resources and Environmental Board ( NREB) Controller Peter Sawal’s statement yesterday that all pig farms from Kuching and Samarahan divisions were expected to move to state- of-the-art PFA Pasir Puteh by 2020.
Currently, only one anchor farm is operating there since 2007, and an additional four main pig farms would be moving there soon as the farmers were now constructing the pen houses and other infrastructure.
The 804 ha PFA Pasir Puteh was implemented in accordance with European Union ( EU) standard. Some RM200 million had been spent on facilities and infrastructure, and an additional RM200 million to complete the whole project.
When completed, the PFA would be the biggest of its kind in the country and the most advanced in the region. Waste products such as biomass from the farm would be recycled and used for generators, making the farm sustainable.
When fully operational, the farm would be able to process 500,000 porkers a year, with a total turnover of RM500 million.
The PFA has a capacity of 250,000 of standing pig population (SPP) and the abattoir facilities would be able to process up to 1,500 heads of pigs a day.
The abattoir facilities, based on a German technology, consisted of a modern slaughter house cum processing plant.
PFA Pasir Puteh was implemented under the National Agriculture Policy ( NAP) 1984, which requires pig production to be carried out in designated areas.